Successfully Funded

CEO Jake Whitman named his company Really Good Boxed Wine because that's what it is: top-quality wine in 100% recyclable packaging with half the environmental impact of glass bottles. And his branding experience at P&G must have paid off, because the RGBW crowdfund has raised nearly $1.3 million. In our first double-guest interview, he and COO Amy Troutmiller, a career hospitality/beverage executive and credentialed sommelier, discuss their complementary partnership, why wine has a longer life in their airtight packaging, and why Cincinnati and Charlotte should duke it out to determine who gets to call itself the Queen City.

If your podcast just languishes on a dead RSS feed, does it really exist? YouTube and TikTok use algorithms to help consumers discover new content, but podcasters can't build audiences the same way because the platforms are too busy promoting their expensive talent. CEO Amit Kukreja has created the solution with Audea, a search engine that uses proprietary data and IP to help the spoken word go viral. We talk about his content strategies, debating his older sister, and why the Audea crowdfund wouldn't exist without Michael Jackson.

After 14 years of investment banking, Sam Payrovi has launched ArkHAUS, a fleet of 40-foot electric boats that connect to form a network of next-generation floating social clubs. Part SoHo House and part WeWork, ArkHAUS will be scalable in waterways all over the world, and its "Party Up Top, Research Down Below" program generates free electricity for researchers studying the water's ecosystem. We talk about grinding it out at Bear Stearns. his new pals at the Coast Guard, and why he never had the temperament to be the doctor his parents wanted. 

On his wife's birthday last year, Vijay Chetty asked himself: Why can't all mail be digital? And why do businesses spend $1.6 trillion on direct-mail campaigns, most of which end up unread in landfills? His answer is Zipinmail: By assigning a cloud-based mailbox to every residential, commercial, and P.O. Box., it will cut marketers' mailing costs by 90% and save 400 million trees every year. We talk about the huge potential upside for crowdfund investors, his first impressions of America as a student in Alabama, and achieving what has eluded the Postal Service for decades.

Peter Clark developed his work ethic as the third of 11 children of a dad who, at 68, still climbs trees as part of his arborist business. Clark and his co-founder Jerusha Greenwald created the SoAct app to harness that energy into helping like-minded activists organize for social good. We talk about the revenue plans around subscriptions, merchandise, and fundraising, the challenges of expanding the app based on the feedback from their thousands of users, and why New Jersey is the best state in the union. 

As 5G technology becomes more prevalent, so too have studies linking cellphone radiation with cancer and other health problems. Lambs has emerged as a health-and-wellness and tech firm that specializes in fabrics that protect us from that radiation. We talk to CEO Arthur Menard de Calenge about Lambs's successful crowdfund, growing up in France, and marketing serious topics with humor. 

Inspired by his long career in IT services, Matt DeVico built Dteckt (including its core product, Persona Monitoring), with a specific eye toward serving the customers who need the most help understanding cybersecurity threats. His strategy for finding market share in such a crowded space is to market personal safety, rather than resort to the over-present fearmongering. We talk about the software ecosystems that are most secure (and most vulnerable), taking inspiration from his father's mentorship, and his frank assessment of his crowdfunding experience. 

Shawn Wehan spent 17 years as a lay minister in the Roman Catholic Church before starting Givsum, an all-in-one platform that nonprofits and service clubs can use for online donations, volunteer management, event ticketing, memberships, and more. The transition to a profit-based model was seamless, because the volume-based model has already signed over 700 Rotary Clubs throughout the country. We talk about the nuance and critical thinking of Jesuit teachings, how to compartmentalize startups and family, and building a business in paradise.

Soon after he started his first spirits company in 2011, Adam von Gootkin (whose name anagrams to "Gonna Omit Vodka") learned his family's interest in potent potables dates back to the 1800s and includes his great-grandfather's speakeasy during Prohibition. We talk about how Highclere Castle Gin began with a cold email to Highclere Castle, how marketing a super-premium brand requires building an emotional experience with the customer, and how his childhood informs his instincts for balancing entrepreneurship and family.

After careers as a journalist at CNN and an environmental lobbyist, Gary Skulnik started his career as a serial entrepreneur in sustainable energy. His latest company is Neighborhood Sun, which dramatically expands access to solar power by connecting providers with local customers without the need to install rooftop panels. He shares his strategies behind his equity raise (which currently sits at around $1.7 million), how J-school prepared him to communicate as a CEO, and why he's glad he didn't follow his dad's advice to become a lawyer.